the scene in kabul ended almost a full day after it began. six militants were killed after attackers shot at u.s. embassy, nato headquarters and afghan intelligence offices in kabul tuesday. the hours-long fighting that followed killed three afghan police officers and one civilian. the taliban claimed responsibility. the families of two american hikers held in iran for more than two years say they are overjoyed at reports the pair may be freed soon. josh fattal and shane bauer hiked along an unmarked border between iraq and iran. rescuers in southern india have managed to get all the survivors out of two trains that collided southwest of chinai. more than 60 were injured when the two trains collided. authorities say one of the trains smashed into the back of the other. the cause of the accident is under investigation. the latest u.s. census shows that more than 46 million americans were living below the poverty line last year. the nation's poverty rate has risen to 15%, the highest level in 18 years. more than one in five children in america are now living in poverty. those are the top stories from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm juanita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. hello, welcome to "world business today." i'm at cnn london. >> and i'm andrew stevens. the world economic forum in northeastern china. the stories this wednesday, september the 14th. china tells europe to fix its finances and stop derailing the global economic recovery. euro crisis conference call. german, greek and french leaders dial in for crucial debt talks. and stock markets in europe are sinking again after moody's downgrades two top french banks. well, the chinese premier, wen jiabao is pulling no punches after what he sees are real problems in the euro zone and also ongoing problems in the u.s. mr. wen used the opening address at the world economic forum here in dallan to sharply criticize what he worries about in the global economy. let me read you a couple sentences. governments should fulfill their responsibilities and put their own house in order. the major developed economies should adopt more responsible and effective fiscal and monetary policies properly handle their debt issues and ensure a safe and stable operation of investment in the market. all of this is aimed at restoring confidence in the investment community. this is mr. wen very much on the offensive as the european leaders continue to struggle with dealing with the debt crisis. there still seems to be paralysis in washington about how to deal with more jobs and how to get the economy kick started there. and this is china saying the time for talking is over. we need more action. so certainly mr. wen making his presence felt on the global stage here at dallan. he also talked about his own efforts and what he sees as issues that china has to face over the next few years. listen to this. >> translator: we must grasp the strength, pace and key points of macro control power, balancing the relationship between stable economic growth, reshape economic structure, and the expectation of inflation. we need to maintain the general stability of price levels and prevent economic upheaval to fully achieve this year's economic and social development goals. >> premier wen speaking to the opening of the world economic forum conference here. this is known as the summer davos. this really is aimed much more at businesspeople and emerging markets, and particularly this year dallan has assumed major, major importance for many businesses around the world. the reason is simple. u.s. consumers are exhausted. european consumers are confused. i don't know what's happening to the debt crisis. people are looking around. companies are now looking around the world to find out where the growth is going to come from, and obviously china fits that criteria, hopefully. they're here to see exactly what's going on on the ground and to talk to each other about economic conditions out there. about 1,500 delegates here today from about 90 countries. so it gives you an idea of just how important. davos attracts only about 2,500 more, gives you an idea. now, obviously, there is a lot going on in dallan around all the rooms here today. the question is, one of the big questions is can the chinese consumer actually prop up the global economic outlook at the moment? now, over the course of the hour, nina, we're going to be talking to martin surrell from one of the biggest advertising companies. he's familiar with what's going on in china. we'll be asking for his opinion. we're also going to have a look at what the chinese consumer looks like. are they covered head to toe in labels? or are they a little bit more less conspicuous than that? and also, we are going to be looking at the chinese economist, very well respected, based in hong kong. she's always on the road in china finding out what's going on. that's all ahead, nina. >> look forward to it and of course your reporting as well from the world economic forum currently under way in china. back here in europe, hopes of a life line stopped the slide on stock markets around the world on tuesday, but if investors were hoping for some kind of calm to return to trading today, it seems they might be disappointed. what they will be doing is tuning into a conference call later on today between the german chancellor, angela merkel, the french president, nicolas sarkozy and the greek prime minister. this as these three leaders try once again to try and get some kind of grip on europe's ongoing debt crisis. when it comes to the markets, this is how the leading indices are performing. we're about an hour into the start of trade. as you can see, some of the stocks, the most affected by the volatility have been the french banks listed on the cac 40. but the cac 40 having a bit of a rebound at the moment, up to the tune of 1.1%. ftse 100 and the other indices up by about half of that in percentage terms. the french banks that are the most exposed to greek debt have been the ones that have been feeling the brunt over the last couple of days. france's biggest lender saw its points oscillate by more than 21% tuesday. the other big french bank out there, the country's number two lender, saw an intraday swing of no less than 25%. right now what we know is that soc gen and the number three bank have actually see their credit downgraded by moody's. paribas down more than 3%. that company's down more than $3.32. andrew. >> yeah, that gloom and the apparent lack of leadership wen was referring to here certainly seems to be playing out across the asian markets as well today. not seeing big falls, but we are seeing falls, and interestingly, it is the banks as well here in asia. it's also property stocks that are taking hits. let's take a look at some of the numbers. the biggest loser today, actually, was in australia. the benchmark s&p there coming off with a loss of 1.1.66%. the hang seng virtual hi flat. the tokyo nikkei down by more than 1%. here in shanghai, the only upside of the day, the composite up by more than half of 1%. nina. now, when it comes to u.s. markets, they look set to post mostly lower when trading begins a number of hours from now on this wednesday's session. this is where the u.s. futures stand in terms of the premarket action. what we're expecting is a number of these indices to be down to the tune of about one-third of 1% to about one-quarter of 1%. but let's come back to talking about europe because it really is the thing that is dominating the agenda today. there's no prizes for guessing what's behind all this kind of market volatility we've seen of late. rising fears over the inability or apparent ability of europe's leaders to resolve the ongoing debt crisis which is now approaching its third year. there's been almost no sign of coordinated cohesive approaches to europe's past problems over the last 24 hours or so. first we saw angela merkel, the german chancellor, pictured here with nicolas sarkozy, saying don't panic and denying that a greek default was actually on the cards. that came just a day after her own economy minister actually suggested that europe's leaders could be considering what he called an orderly insolvency for greece, and then there was talk that ms. merkel herself would actually issue a joint statement on greece with mr. sarkozy himself yesterday. that statement never materialized. and neither has a life line from china, which is one of the main topics of conversation yesterday. investors had been hoping for a flood of chinese money into italian bonds. we have the italian finance minister pictured with the italian prime minister, berlusconi. tremonti had been meeting with the chinese sovereign wealth fund. the italians are still waiting for this kind of investment. his boss, berlusconi, will be hoping for a better house in the house of parliament as the latest version of his aus tteri package is put to a vote later today. those belt-tightening measures are trying to reassure the markets that this country won't be the next eurozone country to see its finances go belly up. and across the atlantic, reassurance is what the u.s. president, barack obama's, looking for as well. earlier on in the week, he told spanish reporters that the eurozone leaders need to show a coordinated approach to dealing with the debt crisis. mr. obama's treasury secretary, timothy geithner, is also seeking solutions to the problem. and he's about to take an unprecedented step of actually attending the european finance minister's meeting in poland on friday. he's expected to urge them to boost the size of the eurozone bailout fund. andrew. nina, the global media giant news corporation is now battling fires on three continents over the telephone hacking scandal. let's look at the latest developments. news corp., this is in the uk, news corp.'s deputy chief operating officer, james murdoch, son of rupert murdoch, says that he is happy to testify after being called back for a second grilling by uk lawmakers. meanwhile, in the united states, a group of independent shareholders is stepping up legal action, accusing the company, in their words, of an historic pattern of corruption. and the australian government is planning to skrut nies the country's media industry after complaints that news corp. had too much of a monopoly on the market. and just to give you an example of that, news corp.'s reach is 70% of australia's newspapers. nina. andrew, the power of the chinese consumer is very much on the minds of international companies attending this week's meeting in dallan as you've been telling us. after all, the size of the chinese middle class is expected to be four times that of the u.s. andrew spotlights that next from dallan and he'll also be talking with jpmorgan's china on plans to boost domestic consumption. stay tuned. improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that 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[ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy, beautiful hair, try nourish plus haircare. only from aveeno. what's vanishing deductible all about ? guys, it's demonstration time. let's blow carl's mind. okay, let's say i'm your insurance deductible. every year you don't have an accident, $100 vanishes. the next year, another $100. where am i going, carl ? the next year... that was weird. but awesome ! ♪ nationwide is on your side who need imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance, may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen ... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm doug harrison. we're experts at getting you the power chair or scooter you need. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. with help from the scooter store, medicare and my insurance covered it all. call the scooter store for free information today. welcome back to "world business today" on cnn. welcome back. >> welcome back. also to -- to dallan where we are covering the summer davos, as it's known, nina. we're looking at one economy that certainly is growing when there is growing pretty much any way you look in the developed world. >> right andrew. the story of china's wealth is well documented. just last week as many of our viewers may remember that the number of billionaires doubled over the past two years. there are more than 130 of them in the year 2009 and 189 in the year 2010. but this is what i want to show you. this year, take a look at the figure. it has skyrocketed to no less than 271 billionaires. and with the growing population, it's no surprise, as you can imagine, that the chinese consumers are on the minds of many of international company. andrew, you've been investigating the chinese consumer. why are they so important, and what are people saying about that there in dallan where you are today? >> well, they're so important because they are now in the world's second biggest economy which has been growing, on average, nina, 10.5% over the past ten years. compare that with what's been happening in the traditional markets in the u.s. and europe. so these consumers, which are helping drive that -- and i won't say they're completely driving that growth, because they're not, but they form a small but growing part and an essential part of the growth of china and obviously economies around the world are looking at these sort of people now to see whether they can actually pick out the burden left by the stalling of consumer buying in places like the u.s. and western europe. now, as you say, we've been looking at the consumers. i want to show you a snapshot of some of china's hardcore consumers. >> reporter: factory owner min lifts up his daughter to receive a blessing from the god of wealth. "i heard that if you touch the god of wealth, you become rich," he says. dressed head to toe in designer labels, the li family has traveled to hong kong for one reason, to shop. "hong kong is a shopper's paradise. each time we come to hong kong, we spent about $100,000 or so," he tells us. that's about 15,000 u.s. dollars. the li family represents perhaps the most important consumer in the global economy today. the chinese middle class. a customer base estimated in the hundreds of millions with cash to spend. as growth slows in the u.s. and europe, companies are desperate for new customers. many already get a growing share of their revenues from china. last month luxury jeweler tiffany posted dazzling quarterly results helped by chinese tourists who stepped up diamonds in the u.s. but as luxury brands revel in china's newfound prosperity, further down the ladder, the environment is more challenging. >> so we're very good at selling image brands, consumer goods. we also are good at selling other types of products like certain cars. but broadly speaking, the chinese have in the mass market have their own brands, their own companies. and it's there that the western firms struggle to really penetrate the local consumer market. >> reporter: despite competition from homegrown brands, the sheer scale of the chinese consumer market is too big for companies to ignore. and it's only going to get bigger. the brookings institution says that by 2020, china could be the world's top middle-class consumer market. and by 2030, that may account for 18% of all global spending. >> you've got 960,000 individuals who are worth more than 10 million. you've got 60,000-plus growing every day, individuals that are worth more than 100 million. but my favorite stat for china is a trend that suggests that right now in five years' time from today, 50% of the rich, which is 1 million u.s.-plus have nothing right now. >> reporter: these are mouthwatering statistics for global retailers. and like the li family, they, too, hope that china's god of wealth continues to smile on the world's second biggest economy. you get the impression there or the picture there, nina, that there are some pretty big consumer spending moments going on in china. and a lot of it's luxury beforehanbrand. now, middle class can be anything between earnings of sort of $2 to $20 a day. so at the lower end of that, you've still got people who don't have a huge amount of money. that's very important. and as we say in that story, talking about trying to get into rural china, places like that with basic goods, that's still a challenge. >> yeah. andrew, what about the lower classes in china? are they still providing a bit of a boon for companies investing in china? and also, what about the country's moves to try and boost domestic consumption and move away from an export-driven economy? >> well, it's certainly trying to boost consumption locally. i mean, they've raised the threshold on income taxes. basically they've given a tax holiday to people. they are doing little things here and there to try to get people to spend. but this move away from this reliance on exports is a lo long-run issue. this is something you can't change overnight. remember, this is a country with thousands of years of history. so no one's expecting in china that this is going to happen quickly. i think there's great hope after 2008 that china could turn on a dime almost and start buying u.s.-made and european goods. that's not just going to happen. but i was speaking to jean ulrich, the head of china research at jpmorgan. she is constantly on the road around china. and i was asking her what sort of mood chinese consumers are in at the moment, and this is what she had to say. >> in the current environment, you have a lot of uncertainties, both in china as well as in the global environment. economic growth, europe and the u.s. is decelerating. in china, we've had inflationary concerns. so consumers actually are hunkering down. they're saving more. you also have concerns about basic social safety net. people save for their retirement, for education of their children as well as for health care. so basically, they don't have a whole lot of disposable income to spend on consumer products. >> jean ulrich there. and then you can't underestimate the importance of this social safety net, having unemployment benefits, having health care, that sort of thing which we still don't really see in china yet. >> okay. andrew, do stay with us, andrew. we'll be co-anchoring the show right throughout the course of "world business today," this edition and later on. we'll be back with him after the break. we'll also be speaking to jennifer delgado. she'll be bringing you your world weather forecast, so don't go away. welcome back. live from london and dallan in northeastern china, you're watching "world business today." >> let's go to the weather now, starting with germany where they're clearing up after a major storm. jennifer delgado joins us from the cnn international weather center. good morning to you, jen. germany first. how's it looking? the cleanup operation is under way? >> yeah, you know, the weather is looking better today, but it was quite wild late sunday as well as into monday. we have some new video in, and it's showing you the damage left behind after a round of strong storms. people are cleaning up there after some of these storms produced some good-size hail as well as damaged roofs. you can see them, the homes there, homeowners actually cleaning up. and this is after reports of wind gusts up to about 80 kph. and certainly many areas there are cleaning up. this happened in the western part of germany as well as in the eastern part of germany. and look at this hail video here. you can get an idea roughly, you can see, about the size of,